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How hard is it to replace front ball joint? Tips and tricks?


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So the front ball joint boot on my 2012 legacy gt has a huge rip on it.

 

How hard is it to replace the ball joint? Any pointers?

 

How hard is it to remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle? Looks pretty rusty down there....

 

 

 

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If it has 100k miles or so on it, just buy new front lower control arms. The pancake rear LCA bushing is likely ripping (or ripped) and will eventually fail.

 

Their is a bolt going through the spindle that secures the upper ball joint mount. No need to separate the ball joint as the new assemble with come with ball joint assembly.

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is it hard to separate the upper balljoint from the spindle? I know removing the pinch bolt from the spindle will be a pain.

 

Once I remove the pinch bolt, does the upper ball joint just fall out? or will I need a pry-bar to get it loose?

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I replaced the control arms on my 2012 Legacy a little while back and it was not a bad job.

Doing the whole arm rather than just the ball joint made a lot more sense to me. Not much more work, fresh bushings and cost a little less than having the dealer replacing just one of those things. The ball joint will probably be fairly tight in the spindle but with the proper tool it came out with no trouble. I prefer the screw type to prying and banging with a fork. I got a pretty good one because I also have an Outback that will need this job too soon. Well worth the $80 or so in my opinion.

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From what I've seen the hardest part about the ball joint replacement is dealing with the pinch bolt. Lots of horror stories of people busting the heads off up here in rust areas. The bolt is far smaller than it should be (I believe it is a 14 mm?) making it relatively easy to bust if you aren't careful. Ive got LCA's on my to-do list for the summer, and I plan on soaking the pinch bolts in penetrating oil every day for at least a week beforehand. Might be overkill but I do NOT want to bust that nut..

 

Here's a great video I found of the process on a rusty 2012 impreza, pretty much the same. I intend on trying the wood technique to pound it out. My mechanic told me "good luck trying to hammer it out" and said no matter what, do not attempt to pry open the knuckle because it's possible you could crack it. Then the job becomes a lot worse!!

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Heat works when penetrating oil is not enough. It's usually the non-threaded part of the bolt that rusts in place. You try turning the bolt and just the hex head snaps off. I always heat up the whole thing if the bolt doesn't break loose with a small amount of effort. Heat has not failed me when dealing with this setup.
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Buy this (make sure it works for your car) to yank the ball joint out: https://www.amazon.com/Astro-Pneumatic-Tool-78620-Subaru/dp/B01JBJFK3C

 

Like 08SpecB_DE said, heat the piss out of the knuckle with a MAP or acetylene torch before trying to pull the bolt out. Propane's not hot enough per my last experience. Bring the following just in case: drill bit to drill out broken pinch bolt, tap to retap threads if they can be salvaged, clearance drill bit in case you can't save the threads, grade 12.9 thru bolt (was 60+mm in the 05-09 case IIRC when I had to do it) with nut and medium strength Loctite in case you have to just drill straight thru and resecure the pinch joint that way.

 

That should cover all contingencies short of snapping the ears on the knuckle trying to pry it open.

Edited by awfulwaffle
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A mid-size chisel should not break the knuckle as long as you careful. All you're looking to do is open it up a little bit. Sometimes, it's hardly noticeable but will help.

 

I use a slide hammer but I bet that tool makes life a little easier.

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I am going to tackle this on Saturday. Good news is that my knuckle doesn't look anywhere as rusty as the one on the videos.

 

Hopefully it would pop right out!

 

Sent from my VS996 using Tapatalk

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I finished the job. Didn't need the subaru ball joint puller after all, the ball joint came off from the spindle pretty easily. Definitely needed the ball joint separate tool.

 

Took around an hour to do.

 

Ball joint was totally shot.

 

Also took advantage of the time to install all my cusco bits.

 

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Sent from my VS996 using Tapatalk

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So the front ball joint boot on my 2012 legacy gt has a huge rip on it.

 

How hard is it to replace the ball joint? Any pointers?

 

How hard is it to remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle? Looks pretty rusty down there....

 

 

 

Sent from my VS996 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Get yourself this tool and it will make replacing ball joints super easy, even if working on the ground and if they are super rusty. e02dd7d674dfb6eeca96c2ac4c7b69ee.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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